C.O. Kuske is Retiring

Congratulations Officer Kuske!

Hopefully his replacement will be equally as professional.  The guy that was here before Kuske was apparently a real piece of work and not in a good way. 

When Natives Netting Your Lake Is A Good Thing

Last year there were rumor's that Indians were out netting on Platte/Sullivan.  I never saw anything and never bothered to check into it very far.  I figured that people saw the boat that was out bow fishing for rough fish and assumed they were natives like I did until I found out differently.  I also figured Platte/Sullivan would be an odd choice because it's full of hammerhandles and bass and doesn't really have an outstanding walleye population .
Anyway, this past Friday LakeStateFishing.com Facebook Page posted pictures of Fond Du Lac band members at one of the Platte/Sullivan accesses.  I will admit I tightened up a bit, because I was worried about how many bass and bowfin they might catch and what size.  I was tempted to go down on Saturday morning and see if I could check out what they got. But it was to cold and windy for me to bother with.

Turns out I didn't have to go because CO Kuske was there and got a count of all the fish the natives got.  There was a message on the Platte Lake Owners Association Facebook Page letting us know what Kuske told them and encouraging us to call him if we had questions, so I did.  I was relieved to hear they didn't get a single bass or bowfin.  They did bring in 57 pike, 7 walleye, a tullibee, and a bullhead or two.

When is it a good thing when your lake gets netted?  When they take out 57 pike, the vast majority of which had to be hammerhandles.  In my opinion the Fond Du Lac band did us a service.

Mille Lacs Bust, Opener Saved by Bullheads

Conditions: Clear and cold, but no wind, so I was never chilled.

I didn't have my tackle organized enough to be at Mille Lacs at midnight because I overslept yesterday but arrived at Eddy's at around 12:20 AM. As I was driving, I thought about my plan to stay until sun up and fish for smallies and decided with it getting so cold tonight, that wasn't a good idea. At Eddy's, they put up a construction fence around the whole place, including the Marina but the Jetty wasn't blocked off in any way. The lights were off, and there was a lot of piled ice where I fish.    I could have fished off the center dock, but elected to put on my waders and head to Option #2, where I fished last year. I parked across the street from a couple of cars there.   Some guys went to their car while I was getting my stuff ready. I said loudly enough for them to hear. Did you get your limit already? They didn't acknowledge me at all, got in their car, and left.

It was right around 12:45 when I got down to the water. I took my jerkbait rod and two rods with swimbaits, one of them being the Abu Garcia Rocket/St. Croix LTB with the Powerbait  4.5" Rib Shad. I put my stuff down where I crossed the road. I saw and heard the two guys fishing closer to the inlet. I picked up the jerkbait rod and waded straight out. I tried 3 different jerkbaits to no avail. I didn't see a single walleye which was a bad sign because I saw them last year. At some point, the two guys left, but I didn't see or hear them when they did. I got over closer to the inlet and actually saw a walleye. I then noticed a guy walking toward the area where my stuff lay, so I quickly walked back. Turns out it was a creel survey guy. He told me he hadn't talked to anyone who got a fish and said the eye's just got done spawning, and he thought the eye's were going to be in a post-spawn funk. He took the water temp at the shore, and it was 42 degrees. He wished me good luck and took off.

I picked up the Rocket, and I put in the rocks on my very first cast. Luckily I got it unstuck, but the hook was bent. I thought no problem, I'll still be able to hook fish. Wrong! I had several hits but couldn't get a hook into anything. I suppose it could have been bumping suckers as well. Eventually, I went and got the other swimbait rod. I had a few fish just grab the back of the swimbait. Eventually, my feet got too cold, and I headed to the GOMH. I removed my waders, tied a new hook on the Rocket rod, and left right at 3AM.

I arrived at the GOMH at about 3:15, and there were two cars whose people were all fishing on the  SW side. I went to ask if they caught anything;  They said they weren't getting much and had no golden bullheads. Liars, they did get one, which I found out later when more of their friends arrived.

I decided to go to the NE side and started throwing the Rib Shad, which didn't get anything, so I switched to swamp gas Havoc Grass Pig and got this golden bullhead on the first cast.

18.5"

It was a beautiful clear night which I noticed after a brilliant shooting star went across the sky. Loon called, and an owl was hooting in the distance. Eventually, I decided to go to the SE side before somebody else showed up. I was there only briefly when a couple of the other guys left as another group showed up. It started getting light out, and not much was happening. A guy on the other side landed a good-sized golden bullhead. Another couple of people arrived, and one came over to fish by me. He told me that golden was 4 to 5 lbs. It got light out, and I landed a 20" toothy bullhead that hit the Grass Pig. About 20 minutes later, I missed a couple of hits, then had a good toothy bullhead hit right by me and Rocket 3 feet in the air. I landed it.

27" or so

Good thing that another guy was there to take the picture because a selfie of a fish that long doesn't look good. I also got this one on the grass pig. I tried several different jerkbait, only getting one bump that didn't hook up. I also missed several hits on the Grass Pig. I noticed the Rib Shad wasn't swimming well, and I had no hits on it. C.O. Kuske showed up but didn't come to check on me. The guy who fished next to Mike and me yesterday, who I will call Local Walleye Guy, showed up in his boat and picked up 3 people from shore. He went over and parked by the point on the SW side of the GOMH; they were throwing suckers or shiners and getting golden and jumpin bullheads occasionally. Us shore fishers were not getting much. I did get one small jumper on the Grass Pig. I tried the NE side again, but my upper back barked at me, and I had had enough of that. I left around 6:45. I Got home and called the Chiropractor. Fortunately, Dr. Grunst was willing to take me in early because he was booked.  

Another Good Night at the GOMH with Dad

Dad and I got to the GOMH about 7PM.  Everywhere was filled, so we took up on the bridge on the Sullivan side.  I started out by weed whacking.  I found out Chris from the Bass Snatchers was there again tonight.  He ended up giving us some minnows, which was nice.  CO Kuske pinched another person tonight for no license  Dad got a silver bullhead and a jumpin bullhead and missed several other bites.

9.5"

 As for me I got 2 silver bullheads, a toothy bullhead, and 10 jumpin bullheads.  I possibly lost a golden bullhead as well after it got dark.  I missed several bites tonight.

All in all it was a good night.

Ice Out Still A Couple of Days Away

Platte Lake is looking better. Click to enlarge all pictures.

The view beyond Channel Inn Point

My normal view into Platte

View from the Platte Lake Public Access

I'm guessing the Platte Lake is ice free on Tuesday, but it could be as late as Thurs..

Here is the view from the GOMH into Sullivan.

The PRO is now totally free of ice except for maybe part of the South shoreline.  I'm guessing Sullivan is ice free by Saturday for Opener.

There were 6 people fishing when I got there and all of them weren't catching anything.  I decided to run around and check Bulldog, Rock, and Platte along North Platte Lake Drive.  

Here is the view of the Rock Lake Public Access.

 I would say Rock is at least 3 days away, same at Bulldog.

I got back to the GOMH at about 7:45PM.  Only the guy on the SW side was still left.  He left around 8:10 so I took up the SW side.  While I was fishing somebody showed up and started fishing the NE side.  Then C.O. Kuske showed up.  He talked to me for a couple of minutes then went to the other people.  Turns out one of them didn't have a license so he got pinched.  I stayed until I pretty much couldn't see.  Got skunked.

I'm pretty sure fish are gonna show up in the next couple of days with temps near 70°.

Nuttin' But Jumpers

15"

I got 4 jumpin bullheads tonight on the Cubby and minnow, that was it.  May or may not have had a bite from a   SB.  Amazingly I was the only one there until it got pretty dark.  Kuske stopped by at about 8:10PM.  He told me they were getting dogfish on the culvert on the South end of the lake.  I fished from 7:00 to 9:00PM.

Slow at the GOMH

Oops Camera wasn't set right

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight just after 5PM.  It was kids night on the SE side, but I still got my spot.  There was a guy catching some jumpers, orange, and toothy bullheads on waxworms.  I got bit off  around 6:20PM.  Got a jumper around 7:15PM.  Got my first silver at around 8:15PM and another around 9:15PM.  There where quite a few people fishing after dark but nobody was getting much so I left at 10:15PM.   No sense in freezing myself.

Got it right the 2nd time

And Kuske dropped by again tonight.

Cubby's and Demon's at the GOMH

10+"

I got to the Grumpy Old Man Hole at a quarter to 6 and I took up a spot on the SE side where there was only one guy.  Basically nothing happened until 8PM.  I got 5 silver bullheads and a jumpin bullhead on the Cubby.  After dark I switched to the Glow Demon and picked up 6 more until I ran out of minnows  Brian showed up with a buddy at about 10:30PM,  they offered me minnows but I was getting cold so I left.  The bite really picked up after they got there.  I think I need to do something about the line on my night fishing rod.  I gave all but 3 of the silver bullheads away and the other 2 went back.  Kuske stopped by tonight as it was getting dark.

No Skunk For Me...

I thought for sure I was getting a skunk for the day. No activity at the GOMH and a wind from the wrong direction and no Rock Dock to fish from. Still I put my time in and fished all afternoon. I started out by checking for suckers, there weren't any. Then I headed to the GOMH as the sun was out, and it was warm but windy out of the NE, which actually was a good direction for the south side of the GOMH. CO Kuske stopped by again. He said crappies were being caught at Pierz as of today. I fished for about an hour, then headed to Rock. After seeing the futility of fishing Rock in that NE wind, I sat in the truck and listened to the radio, hoping the dock installers would show up. While I was sitting there, a guy who I might have met before came down in an ATV to go fishing. He gave me some interesting information, but he did not catch anything. It may have been info about suckers running. After that guy left, I went back out to try again, and while I was fishing, a boat came down to launch, so I got in the truck to move out of the way. I parked in the lot, and one of the guys with the boat motioned for me to roll down the window. He let me know my left back tire was just about flat. The tire wasn't totally flat, so I made the decision to limp the truck about 3 miles to Bear Traxx hardware and gas. I made it with no problems and got the tire filled back up. I could hear the leak, so I immediately drove 5 miles south to J&D's, which is a full service station. In 30 minutes Jeff had the tire patched and I was back on the road. Our place is less than a mile South of J & D's, so I headed home to check on the dogs and get them their supper. Once that business was done, I headed back to Rock. Nobody was there so I pulled up to the ramp and started fishing. The wind was just a bit better but had clouded up pretty well. I think I missed one bite but am not totally sure. I finally bugged out at 6:30PM. I was surprised when I arrived at the GOMH that nobody was there, which was not a particularly good sign. As I took my stuff down to the SW side, Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up. He gave me a hard time about how he would catch as many fish as me by just sitting in his truck.

Right around 7:30PM, Willard left, and I started seeing signs that some baitfish were around with predators chasing them. I made several casts to the area but didn't have any bites. It was getting pretty dark, and I was reeling in by some cattail stalks when I thought I was hung up, but the snag started moving quickly to my left. Sure enough I had a bullhead. I lifted him out of the water and before I could grab him my line snapped, but he was well over the shore so I picked him up.
As you can see in the picture, it was a male pike that was milting.

I didn't get skunked, the GOMH comes through again.

Wide Open!!!

Wide open is the description of all the lakes I looked at today except Mille Lacs. Shakopee open, Bulldog open, Rock open, and yes even Sullivan open.

My day started out with a trip to Onamia to pick up meds and check to see if the suckers were running in the Rum River just North of Shakopee Lake. Do you see any suckers in this picture:

If you do your eye sight is better than mine. The river was empty, therefore sucker fishing was out. I went to Subway for lunch and came back, still no sign of suckers. I hung out for about an hour and no suckers so I headed home.

I got out to the GOMH around 2PM and there was no bullhead action. So next I headed over to check out Bulldog then to the Rock Lake public access. No surprise the Rock Dock was not in the water yet, maybe tomorrow. The Rock access has been known to cough out fish even before the ice gets off the lake, so that is where I set up for the afternoon. Unfortunately for the fishing it was overcast and hazy for most of the afternoon keeping the shallows from heating up. The sky's started to clear a bit around 4:30 and sure enough my bobber went down and I caught my first open water fish of the year.
It went 17 inches.

A little bit later the sky's cleared up and a small school of little bass, a few sunfish, and a couple of crappies swam right up to me and then just as soon as they were there were gone. Didn't even get a bite. A little while later the bobber went down and my lure went bye bye. Stupid Pike!!! I fished until after 7 and occasionally there were sign's of fish swimming around, but I couldn't get any more bites.

I headed to the GOMH and Willard was sitting in his mini van and a guy, lady, and kid were fishing off the bridge and on the SW side. Willard informed me they had not caught anything and were fishing with minnows. I talked to Willard for about 15 minutes then headed over to the SE side which was open. While I was fishing CO Kuske and another CO showed up and did a fishing licence check. As the CO's were leaving I swear I got a bite on my drop shot power minnow but it got off right away. Felt like a silver bullhead. That was it for action at the GOMH tonight.